It would have made a lot of sense for Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to fire Mike McDaniel at the end of last season. The best coaching option was available, but Ross stuck with what he knew.
Mike Vrabel was available, and many Dolphins fans saw an opportunity to get a no-nonsense coach. A fundamental, hard-charging guy who held his players and himself accountable. Ross opted for the opposite, and now, five games into the season, the owner is getting frustrated.
On Sunday night, the Vrabel-led New England Patriots did something in their first season that McDaniel hasn't done in four. He beat the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park.
Dolphins' decision not to hire Mike Vrabel is already haunting them
New England isn't holding a first-place party in the AFC East, but Vrabel's team is only one game behind the Bills and now has the early tiebreaker. The Dolphins are not at the bottom of the East, but they do hold the tiebreaker over the winless New York Jets.
Talk about a tale of two football teams heading in different directions at a speed only Tyreek Hill has. The Patriots seem to have found the perfect head coach, and apparently, a franchise quarterback. Meanwhile, Dolphins fans are still being force-fed excuses about Tua Tagovailoa while waiting for Ross to make the move everyone knows will come sooner than later.
The excuses also surround Ross. The local media will tell you every day that fans should be careful about what they wish for in terms of the owners selling the team. He is invested, they say. He is committed to fielding a championship team, they say. He will do whatever it takes to win, so they say.
The actions, however, are much different. Ross continues to hire first-time head coaches who can't handle the job. Geniuses, they called them, before they came to Miami to prove they have no business being at the end of the dinner table.
Since 2009, Ross has gone through Chris Grier, Mike Tannenbaum, Dennis Hickey, Jeff Ireland, and Bill Parcells. On the sidelines, he has gone through Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and Mike McDaniel. His two interims are coaching in Tampa Bay and Detroit. They are both perennial playoff teams.
While Vrabel is competing and beating a division rival, the Dolphins' coach is blaming others after losing to the Carolina Panthers.
Maybe Vrabel doesn't work out, and in another three years, the Patriots will be looking for a new head coach. Chances are, in another three years, the Dolphins will too, as well as their first victory in Buffalo since 2016.